With the ever increasing quantity of products and services being offered to consumers, substantial interest has been given to promotional systems for advertising such products and services. In this regard, a wide variety of advertising displays and promotional literature has been created and distributed to consumers. However, due to the deluge of material to which average consumers are constantly exposed, greater emphasis has been placed upon developing eye-catching, visual displays and promotional material which will receive consumer attention.
Although various novelty products and printed displays have been created in an attempt to satisfy this demand, these prior art products have failed to provide the desired interest generating results with production costs which advertisers are capable of justifying. In attempting to generate a unique advertising display, some prior art products have employed complex folding systems which produce a three-dimensional display when activated or unfolded. However, in spite of the unique visual appearance generated by such products, the overall cost of production and complexity of assembly of these systems has prevented such prior art systems from becoming popular.
Other prior art displays have attempted to generate consumer interest by providing unique visual images or other indicia as an integral part of the display. However, these prior art attempts have also failed to generate the consumer interest being sought, largely due to an inability to physically involve the consumer in the promotion or display.
Another drawback found in prior art systems is their inability to provide a product which is movable from a substantially flat, two-dimensional configuration into a three-dimensional configuration while also being automatically secured in the three-dimensional, fully erect, display configuration with a long-lasting, non-degradable and non-deformable holding member. Typically, prior art products which have an automatically initiated holding member employ conventional rubber bands for maintaining the display in the fully erect configuration. Unfortunately, rubber bands are not long-lasting and degrade over time. Furthermore, repeated use of these prior art rubber bands causes stretching, which results in the rubber band becoming elongated or stretched, losing tension and the ability to maintain the three-dimensional display in the original, fully erect, display position.
In addition, the amount of force produced by the incorporation of rubber bands in these displays requires the use of heavy board paper stock or cardboard in order to provide the required support and/or strength for the rubber bands and the forces generated thereby. As a result, these prior art products are inherently more expensive and difficult to produce.
Therefore, it is a principal object of the present invention to provide a printed advertising or promotional product which is capable of being produced at a reasonable cost and provides an exciting, interest-generating display.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a printed advertising or promotional product having the characteristic features described above, which enables the consumer to physically control the presentation of the display in a unique hands-on manner.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a printed advertising or promotional product having the characteristic features described above which is capable of mass production and assembly.
A further object of the present invention is to provide a printed advertising or promotional product having the characteristic features described above which provides a unique, eye-catching, exciting and surprising display which is produced in response to action by the consumer.
Another object of this invention is to provide a printed advertising or promotional product having the characteristic features described above which employs an automatically activated fastening and holding assembly which does not degrade or lose its holding capabilities over time, thereby ensuring continuous, long-lasting results.
Another object of the invention is to provide a printed advertising or promotional product having the characteristic features described above which is capable of being manufactured from conventional paper stock while still possessing all of the desired automatic, self-erecting features.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a printed advertising or promotional product having the characteristic features described above which achieves all of the above identified enhanced features while also being capable of manufacture at extremely competitive costs.
Other and more specific objects will in part be obvious and will in part appear hereinafter.